I make a lot of tea towels and dish cloths. That means I also sew a lot of hems! This post will take you through my steps to making hemming easy so those towels don’t languish in the “need to be finished” pile.

A good hem starts on the loom. I think about my hem before I ever start weaving. I want both hems to took the same so the first thing I think about is colour. If my weft is all one colour, it’s easy, my hems will be the same colour. If I’m using multiple colours, I need to choose a colour. If I’ve used a border colour that will become my hem colour. Otherwise, I use the darkest colour, or white no particular, reason, just because.

The next thing I think about is cotton weight. Most of my towels use 2/8 cotton doubled. For my hems, I use 2/8 single even if the main weaving will be 2/8 doubled. This makes for a lighter hem that does not add a lot of bulk. My sewing machine thanks me! When I use chenille or boucle or slub I will still use 2/8 cotton if I have the right colour. I also press my weft in tightly…usually 15 threads for each inch woven. I weave 2-2 1/4” per hem. I do not hemstitch my towels ever.

I never warp just 1 towel, I always warp for at least 2, sometimes 4. Usually 2 because I can get bored with 4! Doing more than one towel means I need to know the end of one and the beginning of the next. I just weave in 2 picks of a contrasting cotton.

When I take my work off the loom, I take it straight to my sewing machine. I sew a straight stitch at either end to secure the weft. Then I will sew a straight stitch on either side of the contrasting threads. I’ll cut all ends leaving 1” or so hanging and trim the extra warp again, leaving about a 1” fringe. I do not cut my towels apart yet.

Next, it’s bath time. Tea towels and dish cloths are meant to stand up to hard wear. They get thrown in hot water and soap for a regular cycle, then dried on high.

Next comes pressing, which can be a whole post on its own. Pressing is literally pressing the iron on the work, hold for 15 seconds or so then pick up the iron and move it to the next spot. Don’t iron as normal, sliding the iron back and forth across the work, as you may distort the weave (straight lines may become wavy). While pressing, trim all remaining ends flush to work and remove any remaining fringe. You won’t want to, but press both sides. Cut the towels apart by cutting between the 2 contrasting threads and remove those threads.

Now finally we get to the actual hem! Flip towel to wrong side. Turn end over about a ½” and press. Turn again and press so that the raw edge cannot be seen. I try to line up the hem so it just hits the beginning of the actual towel. Press firmly. Repeat for the other side of the towel, being sure you are working with the wrong side up. Make sure your threads line up, particularly at the colour changes.

Sew hem with a straight stitch and press once more. I love my walking foot for this task. Alternatively, you can hand sew your hem with 2/8 cotton. Give your towels a final press

Hemming is a lot of work, but a well sewn hem can make or break a towel.